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Another Agreement on free trade in 2009 - cooperation with members of European Free Trade Association
Sunday, 18.10.2009.
17:28
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- This year Serbia should sign the Agreement on free trade with European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which has four members - said Vesna Arsić, the State Secretary within the Ministry of Economy.
She told Beta agency that the members of that Association were Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, and she added that EFTA had been founded in 1960 and that it used to have more members.
- It is very interesting for us to sign the Agreement on free trade with this Association, not only because it will increase the volume of exchange of goods with four members of EFTA, but also because the members of EFTA rank high in amount of investments in Serbia - said Ms. Arsić.
She said that Norway was the third in amount of investments in Serbia, the largest of which had been realized by mobile telephony operator "Telenor". Switzerland ranks 11th, while Iceland's significant investment was privatization of "Zdravlje", which is now a member of Iceland-based "Actavis". However, Lichtenstein's investments are rather small.
- Serbia now exports 70m EUR worth of goods to EFTA countries on annual basis, while the value of annual import amounts to about 180m EUR, which is 1% of Serbia's total exchange of goods - said Ms. Arsić.
She pointed out that, as soon as the Agreement was adopted, Serbia would have free access to the markets of EFTA countries for industrial products, which would lead to the increase in sales because the prices would be lower, while those four countries would get liberalization for industrial products in the market of Serbia in five years.
- Signing of the Agreement on free trade is also good for attracting foreign investments because the investors can sell the goods produced in Serbia in foreign markets under very favorable terms - said Ms. Arsić.
She pointed out that Serbia had signed the regional CEFTA Agreement on free trade, the agreements on free trade with Russia, Turkey, Belarus, and that it had free access to EU market.
